Catch-all email traps and solutions

Checked my spam folder yesterday and found SO MANY DTC brands that used to be in my promotions tab. Even found double opt-in messages in there. Seems like Google/Yahoo updates are working hard to protect consumers from receiving unwanted messages 👏 For us, email marketers that means taking time to update our sending strategies and tighten the engaged segments. If segmentation was not your top priority before, it definitely should be now! Segmentation allows you to target people based on their intent, their interests, the stage of their customer journey, demographics, location and more. Some basic tips: 1. Check your flow filters. Make sure that people are not receiving your Browse, Cart and Checkout Abandonment flows all at the same time. Think about whether people in your Welcome or Thank You flows need to receive your email campaigns. 2. Make sure to send to your Engaged Segment only. And remember, Open Rates are not the true indication of engagement. 3. Send relevant content. Engaged segment is great, but imagine how many different customer personas are there! You have VIPs, prospects, one-time buyers, low AOV, high AOV, and discount shoppers - they all resonate with a different message. So take the time to really look at your audience and craft compelling offers for them. 4. Send more text-based emails. It is not a secret that text-based emails tend to land in the inboxes more frequently than the image based. So utilize that knowledge, especially if you need to fix your reputation among inbox providers. Plain text emails have the power to stand out among the other promotions tab messages and feel much more personal than the image-based sent-to-everyone flashy email. 5. Clean your list and set up proper exclusion segments. Remove spam trap accounts, unengaged, chronic bouncers, and those who have long story of not opening. What else will you add here?

How I Recovered 600 Lost Opportunities with 3 Simple Changes: I was frustrated. I'd spent weeks building the perfect prospect list on LinkedIn Sales Nav.  1,000 dream contacts that matched my ICP perfectly. But then reality hit: 400 contacts had no email addresses at all Another 200 emails bounced when verified I was left with just 400 valid contacts That meant 600 potential conversations vanished into thin air. I was disappointed, and my campaign metrics suffered. Then I went on the Quest for Better Data I refused to accept that 60% of my hard work had to go to waste. So I experimented with three approaches that completely transformed my outreach capabilities: 1️⃣ I discovered the power of specialized email lookup tools My game-changer was Prospeo.io. What started as a small test quickly scaled to finding 50,000 valid email addresses monthly at Platinum Agency. The difference in accuracy was obvious. Instead of missing nearly half my prospects' emails, I was connecting with significantly more decision-makers. 2️⃣ I implemented a "waterfall system" for the stubborn ones For those elusive contacts where Prospeo couldn't find emails, I turned to FullEnrich. Their approach is brilliant: they aggregate 15+ different email-finding solutions into one seamless experience. If method A can't find the email, method B might. If B fails, C could succeed. This systematic approach took my email discovery rate from around 50% all the way up to 85%. Suddenly those "impossible to reach" prospects weren't so impossible anymore. 3️⃣ I stopped ignoring catch-all domains The final piece of the puzzle was tackling those tricky "catch-all" email domains. They are the ones that traditional verification tools mark as "unverifiable" and recommend avoiding. I started using Icypeas, which has a unique approach to validating these risky emails. To my surprise, about 80% of these previously "unsafe" emails were actually deliverable. The results speak for themselves: Within a month, my outreach campaigns were hitting nearly twice as many inboxes.  My bounce rates plummeted, and my reply rates climbed significantly. All because I refused to accept data loss as "normal"

The Email secret 90% of Marketers miss: And It’s Not Just About Open Rates! I once helped a client discover that 30% of their “engaged” email list was full of dead ends. This was also affecting conversions and revenue. The culprit? Bounces. But not all bounces are created equal—and ignoring the difference could tank your sender reputation. Here’s the breakdown: 𝗦𝗼𝗳𝘁 𝗕𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 (𝗧𝗵𝗲 “𝗠𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗲” 𝗭𝗼𝗻𝗲): Temporary delivery failures. Causes: Full inboxes, server outages, or temporary blocklisting. Fix: Wait it out. If it happens 3 times in a short span, remove the address. 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗕𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 (𝗧𝗵𝗲 “𝗡𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿” 𝗭𝗼𝗻𝗲): Permanent failures. Causes: Invalid addresses (typos like “gmial.com”), abandoned accounts, or catch-all inboxes that silently swallow (catch-all status) emails, even after you verified the list. Fix: Remove these immediately. Sending to them repeatedly flags you as spam. 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: Clean lists = higher engagement = better ROI. ISPs track bounce rates to decide if you’re a spammer. Weekly list audits prevent deliverability disasters. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻? - Ask your email service provider how they handle bounces (do they auto-retry soft ones?). - Scrub hard bounces after the first failure. - Monitor soft bounces like a hawk—3 strikes, they’re out. - Test-drive solutions like EmailAddress.ai to pre-verify addresses and avoid guessing which emails are valid, catch-alls, or outright spam traps. As someone who’s spent 20+ years in B2B data industry, I’ve seen companies lose deals because their “perfect” email list wasn't perfect after all. Tools that separate real leads from dead ends turn your data into a revenue engine—not a liability. Seeing bounce issues as well? DM me for a chat! #EmailMarketing #B2BData #LeadGeneration #GTMStrategy

Your email marketing is failing because you're sending to catch-all addresses. Here's what happens when you email info@, hello@, or marketing@, etc: • Multiple people access the inbox • Each person interacts differently • Some mark as spam, others unsubscribe • Your message gets lost in high-volume noise • Email filters will often auto-block "marketing" content The data is clear: 70% lower engagement rates Higher spam complaints Worse deliverability scores Near-zero conversion rates So what do you do? Build an automation that: - Filters out these catch-all addresses - Triggers a value-driven sequence - Requests a personal email instead - Offers premium content in exchange We see roughly a 30-40% success rate with this approach.

You hit send, but your email vanishes into thin air. No reply. No bounce notification. Just silence. What if I told you this is a common trap many fall into? Your email could be undeliverable, and if you're ignoring this, you're letting valuable leads slip away. Here’s the scoop on why your emails might not land: 1. Typos and Fake Emails: A simple error can send your message into the void. 2. Full Mailboxes: If the recipient's inbox is packed, they won't see your email. 3. Spam Filters: Certain words and multiple links can trigger these filters. 4. Blocked Domains: Too many "spam" reports can get your domain blacklisted. 5. Attachment Overload: Large files can cause issues - opt for cloud storage instead. Now, how can you fix this and boost deliverability? → Verify your email list often. → Monitor your bounce rates closely. → Authenticate your emails with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. → Test before you send - use inbox placement tools to ensure success. If your emails aren’t reaching inboxes, they’re essentially worthless. Once you improve your deliverability, expect heightened engagement and increased revenue. Ever faced the frustration of undeliverable emails? Share your experience in the comments.

If you're targeting large enterprises, you NEED to know this: Catch-all emails are a double-edged sword. 1. They act as an extra spam filter for big companies 2. Emailing multiple catch-alls at one company can trigger their defenses 3. Reputation pools are watching your every move I now limit outreach to ONE person per company per week for bigger organizations. Result? Our deliverability to big businesses is back up. But sometimes you can't avoid catch-alls in your industry. So what should you do? 1. Slow down your outreach 2. Hyper-personalize each message 3. Monitor domain health religiously Remember, it's not just about landing in the inbox NOW... It's about staying there. What's your strategy for reaching decision-makers at big enterprises?

❌ Hey RevOps - has your sales team ever dropped a “valid” email address into a sequence, only to have it disappear into the void? Welcome to the world of catch-all emails - where domains accept any and everything thrown their way, meaning sometimes it lands in a real inbox 📥 or sometimes a black hole. 🌌 So why should RevOps care? Because bad data = bad decisions. If your email verification tools aren’t flagging catch-all domains, you might be funneling leads into neverland - messing with deliverability, skewing campaign performance, and throwing off your GTM motions. ⚡ So what can you do? 1️⃣ Use tools like Findymail (built by Valentin W. and crew) that detect catch-all domains in real time (not all verification tools are created equal) 2️⃣ Track email engagement closely - if there's zero engagement, they might not exist 3️⃣ A valid email is just one piece of the puzzle, so be sure to combine with other signals and data points (e.g. firmographics, website visits, intent signals, etc.) to prioritize real leads Your SDRs (and your pipeline) will thank you. 🙏 Also if you've got any stories (good or bad) on catch-all email domains, drop a comment and let’s hear your best (or worst) email horror stories! 👇 #revops #revenueoperations #salesops #salesoperations #emaildeliverability #datacleansing